Map loading?

ProfessorKill · November 11, 2003, 06:31:48 PM

Anyone have any luck getting the "Mappy" map loading functions to work? I'm getting lots of odd errors. I'm still waiting on my DBP box to arrive so I'm using the DBP demo software. Should that matter?

Thanks for any help :)

kevin · November 11, 2003, 10:29:34 PM

Works fine here (Dbpro4.1), although I haven't tested it Dbpro V5.1 demo revision.

It should be noted that it only loads/supports older versions of the mappy format. I haven't got around to updating it.

empty · November 12, 2003, 05:31:10 AM

You'll get an error message in 5.1, cause there's a variable called "byte" in the includes which is obviously a valid variable name anymore.

Open the file VirtualBanksLibrary_FULL_DBpro_V010a.dba located in the includes folder. Scroll down to the line

Code Select


997         byte=-1-ThisByte

And change it to

Code Select


997         rem byte=-1-ThisByte

And save it.
The variable byte doesn't seem to appear anywhere else in the code.
At least it works for me.

.... or just wait for Playbasic :)

kevin · November 12, 2003, 11:22:07 AM

Damn, thought i'd weeded those references out when shovelling it across to pro. Oh well, better fix that then.

Although, Empty's got a good point :)

ProfessorKill · November 12, 2003, 01:19:46 PM

Sweet! Yes, that's exactly one of the errors. I'll fix that up when I get home tonight.

Thanks a lot for the replies :)

ProfessorKill · November 12, 2003, 01:24:25 PM

Quote.... or just wait for Playbasic :)

If I'd had prior knowledge of PB, I doubt I'd have ordered DBP. From what I've read, PB would handle most of my reqs. Didn't see anything in the PB specs about networking. P2P, client/server, etc. That's a huge req for me. And many others I'd guess. Did I miss that or is that planned for a future release?

kevin · November 12, 2003, 01:31:33 PM

Well networking support is still a ways off. Officially PB is still in Alpha, until Dec/Jan.

Just out of curiosity, what are you working on ?

ProfessorKill · November 12, 2003, 01:55:20 PM

QuoteJust out of curiosity, what are you working on ?

Multiplayer (over internet) strategy board game. Fantasy themed. Think elves, orcs, dwarves, etc. Will need good grfx, but not amazing 3D stuff. Less grfx intensive and more focus on the game strategy.

Need client apps (DBPro or PB?) to talk P2P and also send/receive data to a web server/database via web scripts (ASP/VBScript). Are you familiar with the msxml2.dll and it's functions? Need that functionality.

Mark :)

kevin · November 12, 2003, 10:36:18 PM

QuoteNeed client apps (DBPro or PB?) to talk P2P and also send/receive data to a web server/database via web scripts (ASP/VBScript). Are you familiar with the msxml2.dll and it's functions? Need that functionality.

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with that DLL, networking is not something that I've done a lot of. Hence it's lower priority onthe to do list, not because it's not valued, but it'll take more time and effort to give the users an efficient solution. In mean time, there are other core areas that still need improvement.

Although, i'm pretty sure that some of the other guys around here (empty, danny, bliv) probably have far greater experience in this area. So perhaps they can help suggest a solution.

ProfessorKill · November 13, 2003, 04:36:21 AM

QuoteUnfortunately I'm not familiar with that DLL, networking is not something that I've done a lot of.

The msxml2.dll is really simple. It has a couple functions. The most useful is the one that lets you pass in any Url and then capture the page output. It was designed for Xml transfers. I've used it to call an ASP page, passing it values on the querystring, then the ASP page talks to a database on the web server, then spits out data that I read in the client. It allows you to do really cheap client/server comms. No need to have a service running on a dedicated box to handle comms. Just call any old web script and it talks to the database. Follow?

Add that feature and peer-to-peer comms to PB and I'm your first customer. No doubt.

Maybe as an interim solution you could allow PB code to call Windows Dlls. DBP only supports -some- Dlls. Certain Dll formats. Don't know a ton about that. Unfortunately for me, msxml2.dll isn't one of them.

Mark :)

PS: What language are you using to code PB?

empty · November 13, 2003, 08:39:34 AM

I'm not at home atm, posting this with IE (uh ;) ), so jsut in short:

AFAIK msxml2.dll is an ActiveX component. That's why DBpro and neither PB (at this stage) can access it directly. However, it could be wrapped in an ordinary DLL. I'll have to test it when I'm home.

empty · November 13, 2003, 10:25:02 AM

Do you use anything else from the DLL except for the HTTP access?

Also, when accessing the script, do you want to wait till the transfer is completed, or shall the app continue and you'll check manually if there's new data?

ProfessorKill · November 13, 2003, 01:29:07 PM

The msxml2.dll has a synch/asynch setting. Everything I've done so far has been synchronized. Easier to code with wait.

Mark :)

empty · November 13, 2003, 06:27:23 PM

OK, HTTP stuff will be possible with PB either internally or at least with an external DLL.

ProfessorKill · November 15, 2003, 12:38:33 PM

Back to my original topic: Still can't get the Mappy loading DB code to work at all. I received my full DBP version the other day and installed it. I like the Mappy editor and would love to use it. What would a guy have to do to get a working version of these map loader functions? Blood? Cash? :-D

Mark :-)

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Map loading?